insomnia diaries: this blog entry dedicated to my mama...

...who wants (or at least says she wants) the blow-by-blow for the Renaissance painting techniques workshop taught by Geoffrey Laurence at Gage Academy of Art in Seattle this last week. Everyone else can confidently ignore this. I have included the teacher's painting as it went along:

STEP ONE: Canvas prep.

1. Paint two coats of white primer on top of preprimed canvas. (He likes using white lead, but had us use acrylic).

2. Paint two coats of coloured acrylic gesso on top of that; we did the main painting on a canvas toned milky tea colour, and another one in celadon green. Exact colour not crucial.

3. Sand canvas down as needed.

STEP TWO: Charcoal drawing.

1. Sketch lightly your drawing in soft charcoal (not compressed charcoal). Always wipe away any mistakes with kitchen paper, not your hand - your hand will leave invisible greasy nasties on the canvas.

2. When you are happy with what you have, really grind in the dark darks. You will be painting over this eventually, and you want to be able to see the drawing through the layer of paint. Don't worry too much about subtle midtones - this is more about getting the shape of the drawing right.

3. Fix the drawing with fixative; in class we used a purist mix of casein and vodka (!) in a Preval spray gun (recipe = 1/2 oz Spectrafix Pastel Fixative casein formula diluted in 4 oz vodka or other clear alcohol), but you could probably use a regular art fixative without anyone finding out. Spray VERY GENTLY from at least five feet away at first or you will get unattractive puddles on your drawing that will do horrible things to the canvas such as what happened to mine. Let the fixative dry, then do 5-6 more rounds. You can get more aggressive with the fixative after the first round. Let dry completely.

STEP THREE: Grisaille

1. Mix together the following colours until you obtain a darkish brown sludge colour: translucent red oxide (Mussini), light yellow ochre (Old Holland), and cold black (Williamsburg). Thin with a few drops of solvent.

2. Paint a thin even layer of the brown sludge over the entire canvas, making sure that you can see the drawing through it.

3. Mix a range of midtones with the remaining sludge and flake white replacement (Gamblin) (or lead white, if you want to be purist).

4. Paint a monochromatic underpainting with this range, starting with the lightest areas. (He uses solvent/walnut oil for painting medium at this stage). Stay away from the darkest darks - those are established by charcoal underdrawing plus transparent brown sludge coat ONLY.

5. Let dry completely.

STEP FOUR: Warm/cool stage

1. "Oil out" your canvas by brushing a thin layer of walnut oil over the entire canvas, and then wiping as much as you can away with kitchen paper.

2. Using the same translucent red oxide, cold black, and white, mix a range of pinks, blues, and neutrals.

3. Matching the values already established in your grisaille painting, decide where your warm/cool areas are. (You can correct the values at this stage if needed). Keep warm/cool brushes separate.

4. Start again with the lightest areas, and work towards the darker mid tones. Stay away from the darkest darks. Don't touch them. Don't think about touching them.

5. Let dry completely.

(this obviously is before he'd finished his warm/cools, but it gives you the idea)

STEP FIVE: Dead colour layer

1. "Oil out" your canvas again as above.

2. Make up your medium: 4 parts Damar varnish, 4 parts English distilled turpentine, 2 parts sun-thickened linseed oil OR stand oil, 1 part Venice turpentine, and 2-3 drops of cobalt driers per teaspoonful of medium.

3. Decide whether you are happy with the overall balance of warms/cools: if too cool, paint over with a thin glaze of a warm colour; if too warm, paint over with a thin glaze of a cool colour. If in doubt, glaze with whatever colour you want your shadows to be, as you will always go back and add opaque highlights as needed. (In this class we ended up using a Mussini Bohemian green glaze).

4. Paint over your painting in the same palette of light yellow ochre, translucent red oxide, cold black, and flake white replacement, this time trying to approximate the real colours as much as possible. Start in the lights, work towards the midtones, and stay away from the darkest darks.

5. Let dry completely

STEP SIX: Glazing

1. "Oil out" your canvas as above.

2. Slosh a little bit more oil into your painting medium from above.

3. Using very thin transparent layers of whatever colours you like, glaze sections of the painting, moving the "dead colour" palette of the previous step towards the real colours little by little.

4. Voila you're done.